There were so many of the orange and yellow flowers that my galvanized sap bucket is full and the extras went into the living room. I love the sunny pop of colour these carnations, glads and roses add to our neutral family room.

The slipcovers need washed but can wait because I am going to enjoy this last long weekend of summer and then I am back to work on Tuesday. Not looking forward to it, but I am blessed to have a job and especially one that gives me summers off. What are you doing this weekend?

Thursday, August 30, 2012

I arranged some fresh cut flowers in our living room today so I thought I would share a few updated photos.

Our living room is at the front of our home, and it receives the least amount of natural light. The walls are Ben Moore Cotton Balls. I am enjoying the light sheers but I keep toying with bringing back my blue paisley curtains for some colour.

The $10 dresser I picked up is still a favourite piece and I'm looking forward to being able to change the accessories as the mood strikes. The burlap Wrangler tote bag in the corner holds my current crocheted afghan work in progress. Still looking for a larger mirror and I would love to replace or update the lampshade on the dresser.

I added an assortment of white roses to the French Bead pitcher on the dresser.

Orange and yellow are not colours I would normally choose but I really like how the glads, roses and carnations look mixed together.

We have the wood roman blinds, but do you think it would look better with just the blind and white sheers, or with the blind and the blue paisley? I have extra blue paisley fabric that I could make pillows with. Lastly, and the one I like the best would be to add a neutral curtain like a neutral drop cloth. I would love to know what you think!

Also, our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by Hurricane Isaac.

Monday, August 27, 2012

This weekend I tackled a table painting project and my goal was to not spend any money and to only use supplies I already had on hand.

This is the table before it was painted. I loved the wood barley twist legs but the table edges and the cross pieces were really chipped (I bought this piece at a local furniture store tent sale, a floor model, several years ago for around $40.).

I started by priming it, then adding two coats of light grey mistint paint followed by a darker gray mistint paint. The darker grey was painted with a light hand and intentionally missing spots. I don't have dark wax, so I used a rag to wipe on Minwax stain in English Chestnut, and then wiped it off before it dried. Finally I applied two coats of Minwax paste wax. At every step I wasn't sure if I liked it but I just kept going.

I especially like how there is more of the lighter grey and stain showing in the curves of the legs and in crevices.

I was going to buy white paint for this table, but I need to buy new paint for my bedroom dresser and night tables first. I was determined to make this over without buying anything new and I did it! The primer, mis-tint light and dark grey paints, stain, wax and knobs are all supplies I had on hand from other projects.

Oh, and did I mention I love the legs? ;) It is a different look than I usually go with, but I like it. What do you think?

Sunday, August 26, 2012

We are enjoying our second to last weekend of summer before back to school (and work for me) but I couldn't help pulling out a few items that remind me of Fall.

This little wood tote was $1.49 at a local thrift store and was originally a dark green (sorry, forgot the before pic.) I painted the first layer Antique White craft paint and then pulled out a sample pot of Martha Stewart Sharkey Grey for the top coat ($1 clearance at Home Depot.)

I lightly sanded it in a few spots but kept most of the Sharkey Grey intact, just hinting at the colour below.

For an early Fall vignette I filled it with some vintage crochet doilies, old silver spoons, a cute little cow I have had for years, and some new votive candles for Fall. I always get my votives and candles at A Country Mile in Milton. They have the most delicious scents! The trio of votive holders hold more great smelling candles, and the large pinecone I picked up at our grocery store and use most of the year in displays.

This little vignette is displayed on the turned leg table I shared in our family room office area post. It was quite chipped around the edge so I went ahead and painted it. I will post more details and better photos soon (tonight it is too sunny in our family room.) I hope you had a great weekend. I'm heading over to my sister's home for a visit and some cake.

Friday, August 24, 2012

I often have fresh cut flowers in our home but for quite a while our home has been plant-less.

The spider plants are from a colleague and I planted them in tall matching clay pots that I white-washed. To protect the tables I used some vintage ironstone plates and transferware saucers. One is in the family room and the other is in the living room.

Last month a sweet friend from our church sent me a florist's basket of plants. Such a thoughtful thing to do! The basket was getting a bit overgrown so I pulled out two of the plants and re-potted them.

I had a pair of faux zinc pots and put one beside a chair in the living room. I like how the plant is reflected in the mirror.

The other is on a little table beside the couch. (Keeping it real with the phone too.) Simple and free but I love that the greenery adds some 'life' to our home.

We have an all day car trip with 4-H tomorrow touring modern facilities and hopefully a few stops at farm stands for fresh produce. Hoping you have a great weekend.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

This little piece was only $3 at a garage sale this weekend so it came home with me. I didn't bother offering less because I was excited to find it.

I added it to the china cabinet in our dining room. This cabinet is full of the white caterer's plates we use for parties (instead of paper), my Mikasa French Countryside coffee set, a simple white dinnerware set for 16 and other collected pieces.

Don't you just love spotting that one special piece on a table and hoping you get to it before someone else spots it?

Sunday, August 19, 2012

We have a little computer office area in our family room that I usually don't include in photos. It is a bright and functional little space in the catherdral ceiling/skylight end of our family room but it is not a pretty space. I finally have a laptop but we still use the family pc on an old drop leaf table in the corner.

I am hoping to make some little changes that will help me like this area a bit more. This past week I tried using a bigger farm table and pulling it out into the room more (with the short end at the wall by the filing cabinet and running perpendicular to the large windows. It didn't work with all the cords and there really wasn't a good spot for the big ugly black box filing cabinet.

The chair has been added to my painting list. Hopefully a fresh colour will update the tired oak. I will also look for solutions to add files to the upper part of the blue armoire and then maybe the big filing cabinet can go to our storage area in the basement. I think that might give us the biggest improvement.

The barley twist (?) table is just there temporarily. This weekend we celebrated my husband's 50th birthday and needed a table for a wine bar for guests. We brought this one up from the basement storage.

This table is in need of painting because there is a lot of wear on the edges of the table top.

For the party I made it work with a little muslin table runner with a crocheted edge and a shallow galvanized container full of vintage mason jars. It may not be pretty or perfect, but our family and friends were too busy enjoying great food and friendship to notice. I often need to remind myself that it is the welcoming of friends and loved ones into our home that is important, not how perfect one's home is.

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